Just 3 more to go!

 I'm now just three lbs away from my lowest point.  Finally!  It took me over a year to gain it, but less than 3 mos to lose it, so that feels good.

My health hasn't been great, but I'm on the mend.  My MDs told me to stop losing weight for now until my other health issues are resolved, so I haven't been really trying to lose, but I still am.  I'm just under 40 lbs down since January. 

Now I have a WAYS to go to reach my goal, but it feels good to be down the weight that I am. 

The verdict is in

I am extremely anemic.  This is no shock to me, although my iron and ferritin levels are somewhat shockingly low.  It's not shocking, considering how I've been feeling, but the levels are lower than they've ever been.  My MD wants me to take iron supplements, and they all make me very sick to my stomach.  Like, *very* sick to my stomach.  I don't know if I'm going to have a choice, though. 

I haven't had the energy to exercise in a while, but that's no surprise there.  On Monday, I had to lean up against walls so that I could stay vertical. 

The good news is that I continue to lose weight.  As of this morning, I'm just four lbs above my lowest weight since I was banded.  THAT is very encouraging news.  I can't wait to lose those last four pesky lbs and finally start getting closer and closer to my healthy goal weight.

Closer to my goal

As of today, I'm down a total of 35.8 lbs since the beginning of our contest, so that's about 3.25 lbs/week and I'm very pleased with that.  I have to give a big shout out to my sister, who has lost 23.4 lbs, and that is just amazing!!  She has been working out an hour a day and 2 hrs on the weekend.  God bless her.  :)

I haven't heard back from the MD yet on my bloodwork, and I hope I do soon.  I'm definitely feeling better than I was yesterday, but I'm no where near myself yet.  My stomach is finally feeling better, so I'm eating again.  That should help with the fatigue I was experiencing.  I just hope I don't gain weight as a result.  ;-)

Have a healthy, low cal day! 

Once again...

I'm under the weather.  I didn't sleep well last night, and I woke up feeling faint and very weak.  I've had a mild form of the stomach bug for four days now, and I am probably not eating as much as I should.  I went to the MD and they drew 3 viles of blood.  I'm not sure how that's supposed to make me feel any less faint, but maybe we'll know what's wrong with me by tomorrow. 

On the upside of all of this, I'm down about 5 lbs this week.  We'll know for sure tomorrow am.  One of my pairs of new jeans is fitting me loosely already, but I have plenty of other pairs to try to shrink into.  It's fun exploring my new wardrobe.

Another low

I was down a few more lbs today, and now I weigh less than I have in a year.  Yay.

Chipping Away

I'm down 1.2 lbs this week for a total of 31 lbs lost this competition.  I was hoping for a bigger loss since I didn't lose last week, but I'll take it!  Any loss is a good loss.

Today I'm wearing the black suit pictured in my previous entry.  My clothes have been so loose lately, I feel weird wearing something that fits, but I'll get over that. 

Last night, I tried on several suits that I had purchased last year with optimistic intentions, and I'm really not that far off from any of them.  I think within 10 or 15 lbs, I'll be wearing most of them, and that is exciting.  My wardrobe will grow, and I can stop wearing suits that are too big. 

I'm not sure how many weeks we have left of this competition, but I'm 9 lbs away from my goal of losing 40 during it.  Let's hope I can reach that goal!  It will put me just about at my lowest weight since I had surgery, and that will be a good feeling.

:)

Shopping in my closet

I realized that most of my smallest clothing appeared to be missing, so I went on a search this morning.  Sure enough, I found 3 basins full of clothing I forgot I had!  I'm a dope, but I'm a very pleasantly surprised dope!  :)

This suit was among the bins of my small clothing.  I have no idea when the last time I wore it was, but it was over a year ago, I'm sure.  I tried it on, and it was snug, but it fit.  The picture above was taken in August of 08 - I was roughly the same weight then, perhaps 5 lbs less, but nothing drastic. 

I showed my Mom and Darcy the suit, and they said the picture above captures how I looked in it, so that is exciting to me!!!  What a big difference in just a few months.

I'm more motivated now than ever to keep plugging away.

We went into Boston today, and I wore an adorable outfit, I must say.  I felt really good and stylish, and yes, still fat, but not offensively so.  Wearing clothes that fit you is huge.  My mom said the suit takes at least 15 lbs off me, and she's a very conservative estimator.  ;-)

I may just wear this suit every day.

My mother was also shocked that I am now wearing clothes that are only one size bigger than hers.  Watch out - I'm raiding your closet next, Mom!  :)

I found about 10 new pairs of jeans, a thousand shirts, and probably 20 pairs of shorts, so I'm excited that my wardrobe has grown exponentially in just one day.

Stay tuned for a much more fashionable me!

Spanx!

I'm trying to start wearing some of my smaller clothes again, but I can't seem to remember to suck it in all day, so I try to not wear clothes that require that.  Today, I wanted to wear one such outfit, but I realized that if I relaxed too much, I would end up in an unflattering situation.

I decided to break down and borrow Darcy's spanx, so I am all sucked in and ready for the day.  LOL - it would be much easier to go to the gym, I'm sure.  ;-)

I wasn't down any weight this week, and Alison was shocked because I've been eating so little lately, but I think it's from all the sodium I've consumed this past week.  First, with the corned beef dinners, and then last night on my loaded baked potato. 

I'm going to be much better about my sodium intake this week, and I hope to have another loss next week.

Good luck to my fellow losers as Alison will be posting the weekly stats soon!

The road to hell

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  I can't believe that's the case, but I do think the road to fat is paved with good intentions, false starts, the best of ideas and a whole bucket of woulda/shoulda/couldas.  How many times have we started diets that lasted a day or even a meal, lost weight to only gain it back (and then some), planned to go to the gym but didn't quite make it, etc...?  Too many to count for me, I know that much.

I had great intentions of long outdoor bike rides this beautiful weekend, and so far, I have not even come close.  Although I'm on Claritan D, my allergies combined with my anemia have rendered me largely useless for this earth at present.  I did go into work for a few hours this morning, and I got a lot done, but I still have a great deal of homework to finish, a meal plan to develop, groceries to buy and then a work out to fit in. 

As I type this post, my heavy eyelids continue to slide down over my eyes, until I lift them up to let the light back in as I continue to type.  My allergies are truly debilitating, and I'm going to try to make an appointment with my MD tomorrow to see if I can get a shot.  I can't function like this anymore.

I'm also going to try to have an iron rich diet today to help combat the anemia.  I'm always up for a nice steak, so there's no sacrifice there!

For whatever reason, I have had health issue upon health issue for the past few years.  They have made my weight loss journey very challenging, and I have tried to fight back twice as hard to combat it.  When I can't exercise, I eat very little.  When I can exercise, I give it my all, thankful for every moment that I can.

My mind continues to pause under the fog of my weariness, so I will bid you adieu for now.  I'm thinking good thoughts in hopes that you are able to enjoy this gift of beautiful weather we have received, and I eagerly anticipate a day in the near future when I can write to you of my athletic conquests with energy and fervor.

They're baaaaaack

My allergies are back in FULL effect.  I slept for 10 hours last night, and I was still tired when I woke up.  Everyone at work asked me what in the world was wrong with my face.  Nice.  haha

My eyes were puffy, I looked very pale and I couldn't get out of my own way.  However, several hours, a liter of diet coke and a claritan D later, I'm doing much better.  My allergies are only mildly bothering me now, and my eyes are mostly open.

I don't know why I have such a terrible response to allergies, but I can tell you that I do not like it.  Feeling like this makes me too lazy to exercise.  All I can do is collapse after work, and I struggle to stay up until 8PM. 

Someday, when I grow up, I'm going to move to a magical place that doesn't foster seasonal allergies, and I'm going to be skinny and happy.

The end.

Outdoor training

We are expecting snow today and tomorrow, but it's supposed to be in the mid to high forties over the weekend, so I'm thinking it is time to start my outdoor cycling training for the marathon.  I've had plenty of practice in the gym, but now it's time to hit the streets! 

There are bike trails around, but I'll probably just ride the streets and see how that goes.  I'm going to try to find a 10 mile loop leaving from my house to use for practice for the triathlon.  Wish me luck!

Let the Corned Beef Begin!

Every year, Alison and I torture TJ with endless blogs about corned beef, water weight, and the like during St. Patty's season.  After all, we are ever true to our Irish roots, and we both LOVE a good corned beef dinner. 

Last night, I could wait no longer, and Darcy made my first corned beef dinner of the season.  Truly, it should probably be the only one I have, since it's SO high in fat and salt.  I don't eat much, but even the bit I ate had me up 4 lbs of water weight today.  I also ate dinner at 9PM, so I think that played a role in the gain as well.

I'd like to say the water weight will be gone tomorrow, but I have a feeling I'll have some more for dinner tonight, so we shall see what happens.  I wish I didn't love this block of salty fat, but I just do. 

I will have to make sure to freeze the rest of it that I don't finish by Thursday because I need to make sure the weight is gone by my weigh in on Tuesday!

OK, just for the fun of it

Before the contest started:                                       Now:

New jeans! (Take 2!)

My other new jeans that were pretty snug last week fit much better this week, and I thought it was time to buy another pair of short term "goal" pants, so I ordered the above jeans from Amazon today.  They were kind of expensive, but I noticed that I really like the way expensive things make me feel about myself, so I'm going with it.

After all, the better I feel, the more devoted I will be to my weight loss journey, right?  Right. 

I just found out my Mom is flying in to visit next week!  I'm so excited to see her!  She told me that she's not going to recognize me, which is funny because I just saw her 2 months ago, and I've only lost 30 lbs - I really don't think I look very different, but I'm sure she's THRILLED that I'll be that much smaller than the last time she saw me. 

I think I'll post some "before" and now pics shortly, so you can see for yourself.